This is the secret mode you don't know about in your router that you should activate now
All the information that leaves and enters our home ends up at the router in our living room (or wherever you have it, of course). This device ends up becoming something as personal as your door or your bedroom window: the router is the mirror in which we look at ourselves.
As we said, your router is one of the most personal items you have in your home. All internet traffic from all the connected devices in your home passes through this device and that means it knows absolutely everything about us.
This is more than enough reason to protect yourself from any potential intruder. Protecting your basic internet connection doesn’t require a paid security subscription or a VPN. By now, your router probably already has this useful security feature we’ll talk about.
In case you don't know, it's called guest mode, and as the name suggests, it creates an SSID (Service Set Identifier) independently of the main network, with a different name, password, and traffic. This way you can browse separately, without risk.
Guest modes come with their own passwords and settings. They are also easy to create, edit, destroy, and rebuild. Go to your Wi-Fi management page, browse around, and you’ll find some sort of guest mode in the settings. Even basic routers have this feature these days.
- Advantages of guest mode for your router
The separate network name and password in guest mode means you don't need to give guests the details of the main network that only you and your family can access. If your guest mode has parental controls or restrictions of any kind, turn them on.
You can also disconnect the secondary internet connection for any reason, without affecting network usage. If you want to make sure your child doesn't watch YouTube all night, you can turn off their guest network at any time, while you can continue browsing the network without a problem.
In some routers, guest mode can be activated by following these steps:
Launch the browser and enter http://192.168.0.1 in the address bar. Then log in to the router settings and follow these steps:
Step 1: Click Settings -> Wireless
Step 2: Click on the “Guest Area” tab or Guest Mode where the name varies depending on the type of router you have:
Step 3: Configure guest mode by giving the new network a name and password and then click Save:
Guest mode is also easy to spot in the network list, and since the network is already restricted, you can use an easy-to-type password to make logging in more convenient for them. You can also create a QR code for a guest-only Wi-Fi network. Get the full potential of your router, it’s not that hard.